Bottom Of Sachem Pond

for Dante and Patrick

about the author at bottom .... like our Facebook page, thx.

Sunday, November 25th

Some people in a small town are good. Some are not what they seem. Some are just looking for something missing in their lives. Sometimes things get lost. It can be direction or people or even kids.

Sometimes you find it. Other times you don't. Some never will.

Sometimes even in Sachem Pond there's always the chance you can. You just have to try.

But sometimes you can hit bottom.

Sometimes.

"What are we doing here again?" Mojo was the eleven year old twin sister of Wart.

"I told you, we're looking for Wolfie. You remember. You always remember. My dog," Wart said.

They were behind the Bank Of Sachem Pond where the parking lot met the woods. The building was on Farm To Market Road. The bank was open seven days a week. Something they always bragged about in their ads on tv.

"Who told you that the huskie would be here?"

"Hunter."

"You're still friends with him?"

"Yeah, he's gotten better. I know you don't like him. His grandfather's been working with him."

"OK, but did he say when he saw the dog?"

"Well, uh ....".

The back door of the bank flew open and a small man in a red hoodie and dark sunglasses ran passed them. He had a bag in his hands and headed into the woods. And was gone from sight in a moment.

The same door opened quickly again. This time a bald man in a suit stood in the doorway and looked around until he saw the twins.

"Did you see where the short guy who ran out of here went? Which way did he go?" the man asked almost yelling. He was the acting manager of the bank. He had a cell phone in his hand and was waiting for the police to show up.

The twins didn't say a thing, pointed to the woods. It was obvious to the kids that the bank had been robbed once more.

The manager turned around and could be heard saying, "Again, dammit." When he was inside the door, he glanced out until the cops tapped on the door glass.

Wart said, "Whoa."

"That was weird," Mojo added. "Uh, what are you thinking? You have a look.":

"Let's follow him."

"Uh, no. What if he has a gun or something?"

"C'mon. We'll go around and catch him on the other side of the woods." And he was riding his bike on the street next to the wooded area.

"Wait up. What happens if we catch him?"

Heart was still pumping like an old steam engine. After a face to face with a woman teller who seemed to freeze behind the bank counter. Put a bag on the counter, told her to fill it in a low voice. Then a run across the parking lot through the woods.

When far enough away, stopped by an old tree stump and listened. Quiet.

Removed the sunglasses and the hoodie, placed them on the stump. Had a flat backpack on over a light jacket windbreaker. Took off the pants, had leggings worn under. So glad it was 50 degrees this late in the year.

Stuffed the hoodie and the pants into the backpack. Fluffed up the hair. Put on a green felt hat with a long feather on the side that had been neatly folded in the backpack.

No more running. Walk normally until the woods ended.

He was a she again.

Charlie Roberts was sitting in his old webbed aluminum chair at the public beach at the Pond. He was keeping his vigil for his son Donnie who had walked into the water here. A long time ago now. His son just couldn't deal with the pain from the head wound he had received in the military. Too dumb to duck, Donnie would always say. .

So Charlie would sit staring out at the water. Calm today and the weather was even on the warm side for this November day.

He had been here for a couple of hours. Off to the south side of the Pond by the old Kelly Beach, four pre-teens appeared from nowhere about an hour ago, Four boys. Maybe brothers? They looked a little alike to Charlie. brown hair, plaid flannel shirts and jeans. Sneakers. Clothes that looked like hand me downs.

The oldest boy threw a rock onto the water and then stared back at Charlie. The old man then watched the ripple in the water and smiled.

And even though the stillness of the Pond was no more, Charlie wanted to throw a rock too. Maybe even see Donnie break the surface with the rock in his hand. Nothing would make Charlie happier. But it was never to be.

The twins parked their bikes at the road side of the woods. Mojo just stared at her brother. No dog, a bank robbery and a quick bike ride. The only dog she was thinking about was what if the dog who was chasing a car caught the car. What would he do with it? And now what if they came face to face with the robber.

"Sandy!" Wart said as the girl exited the woods from behind a tree. They were all surprised as they now stood on the street.

"Oh, hi," Sandy responded. Mojo wasn't even sure Sandy knew her brother..

"Nice hat," Mojo said.

Sandy adjusted the feather, "It's isn't too much, is it?"

"No, it looks good," Wart told her.

"Thanks, uh ...".

"Wart, I mean Walt. We've seen each other down at the Pond a few times."

"Oh, right." She fixed the feather again.

Mojo changed the subject. "Did you see the bank robber?. Red hoodie, bag of money, sunglasses. Just robbed the bank?"

Sandy said, "Really? No. Have only seen you guys. I'm coming from the supermarket. The nuns at he Citadel sent me on a food run. They needed ginger. For tonight's dinner. I'm going back now.

"The bank manager was pretty wired."

":He should be. That bank has been robbed ever since they bragged about being open seven days a week."

Wart said, "Really?"

"Yup," Sandy told him, "I have to get going. I'll be down at the Pond in a bit."

"Cool, see you there."

"Bye."

Mojo just watched. She always knew when her brother had a new crush. He used his given name Walt.

"Bye, Walty," she kidded her brother who rolled his eyes at her, "C'mon let's go see Grandpa Charlie."

"Wish we found that dog."

"Not when you can find something else."

Roberto, the twins father, was checking over the paperwork he would be needing this week. His job as Sunny Brook University was as a professor of Natural Science. The grant that they had applied to start testing the waters had been approved. The Pond had its problems over the years. Too much nitrogen was one of the main reasons. The cesspool at the now closed Bohemian Inn which had been one of the biggest culprits was long gone. Rain runoff, algae blooms, fertilizers and lots of stuff to keep all those suburban lawns green.The main thing, no one thing really to blame, it was cumulative.

Now he had to get a couple of certified divers, a few grad students he had been working with and a boat.

Lido, his wife and also a teacher but at the community college was also a diver and had already volunteered that she wanted to be included.

He'd find a project for his wife, He also asked Charlie if he saw any changes on the Pond that he had seen recently but also over the year.

Sandy dropped off the ginger at the Citadel where she had been living with the nuns as a novice. There were many buildings on the property that had been donated to them by stage actress Maude Adams many years ago. Her room was in what Sandy called the Peter Pan House in honor of Adams being the first performer to play the character. Sandy had told the nuns that she had interest in becoming a nun. But also that she was the great great granddaughter of Adams. The nuns respected this and thus the free room and board or she'd be on the street.

Sandy refilled the backpack with five bottles of water, a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread, It all just fit. And she was off to the Pond.

The twins parked their bikes on the sand next to Charlie.

"What are they doing, Grandpa Charlie?" Mojo asked about the boys.

"Oh, hi," Charlie said, "I don't know, I get here every day, watch the water and then look over and there they are. They just appear."

"Do you know who they are?" Wart asked. "Maybe brothers?"

"Maybe," Charlie told him. "Shouldn't they be in school?"

Wart smiled. "We're off until tomorrow, check then."

Charlie just nodded.

Sandy then arrived and joined the young males.. She gave each one a bottle of water. The oldest grabbed the bread and the peanut butter.

"What, no knife?" he asked.

"Oh, shoot."

"I'll use my hand."

"I'll do it, my hands are cleaner."

Wart walked over to them to talk to Sandy.

"Where's he going?" Charlie asked.

"I think he's in love. Lalalala," Mojo said.

"Does he know how old she is?"

"Doubt it, but she's not our age."

Charlie grunted.

Wart stood next to Sandy watching her finish making the sandwiches. Each boy grabbed one and took a big bite and then a big gulp of water.

"What do you want?" the tallest boy asked.

"Oh, Walt," Sandy said as she turned to him.

"Hi."

"Meet my boys. Jamedanaliam.", she grinned, "Jamedanaliam. James, Daniel, Aaron, and Liam."

Wart said ok as he heard two 'heys', a 'hi' and the little one answered just stared at him.

The oldest stood up. He was a good two inches taller than Wart. His sandwich went into his jacket pocket.

"You're a stupid Mexican," he said.

Mojo was watching all this and heard what he said. "Wart!"

Wart told him, "I'm Latin, I'm Irish, German and maybe some Dutch,": and then he stepped on James' toes.

James winced. Wart walked toward Sandy who gave James a look.

"I'm not stupid," he told Sandy and kept going to his sister and Charlie.

Everyone was watching Wart and he knew it.

"You OK?" the old man asked.

"Thanks."

"What for?"

"For telling me about the toe thing. He did exactly what you said."'

"Yup, gets their attention."

Mojo laughed. "I have to try that."

Lido had already checked her diving equipment out in the garage. When she came back into the house, her husband was still going over the paperwork again.

"You got the grant, Roberto, you've got the OK, what are you doing?" She smiled at him.

"Guess I still want to make sure it's real."

"It is and it's going to happen tomorrow morning."

"The Pond needs this and it took so long."

"Good stuff usually does."

Wart came in the kitchen door, burst passed them, went straight to his bedroom and slammed the door.

"What was that?" Roberto asked

"Our son, the other half of the twin egg. I got it."

"No this one's mine. I have to hear this."

"OK," she said in a singsong.

Roberto walked down the hall and knocked on Wart's door. No answer. He opened the door.

"Flesh wound?"

"Not funny, Dad."

"So, talk."

"Almost got in a fight. Down at the Pond. Some kid called me a stupid Mexican."

"What did you do?"

"I wanted to pop him. He was taller than me. I did what Grandpa Charlie once told me. I stepped on his feet and held my ground."

"Sounds like you won."

"I told him I was Latin, Irish and ...".

"So what's wrong?"

"I still want to pop him, my heart is pumping like a truck."

Roberto grinned at him. "You forgot rule # 1, never fight over a girl."

"How'd you know?"

"You should have seen the size of the guy I didn't fight when I met your mom."

Mojo had stayed at the beach with Charlie. His old webbed aluminum chair creaked on the sand as he shifted his weight.

They watched Sandy tend to Jamedanaliam like a mother hen. She was the older sister. She made sure they ate their sandwiches and drank all the bottled water.

"Who is she anyway? She told us she lived with the nuns at the Citadel," she told Charlie.

He wasn't going to say anything until she mentioned the Citadel. The land given to the convent by Maude Adams the veteran stage actress. The nuns had nursed her back to health when she had gotten sick when he was in the area. But little by little most of the land had been sold off as the sisters built buildings on the property for capital. It became shopping centers, homes, roads and banks when space was needed and the order worked out a few deals.

"I've talked to her a few times. Or should I say she talked to me. I know about the nuns. And Maude Adams her great great grandmother. But she acts like an orphan.."

"The boys do too," she said "Who's Maude Adams?"

"YouI'll have you google her. There's two of them. She's not the Bond girl."

"OK, I will."

Charlie stood up, stretched and glanced over to where Sandy and the boys were. But they were gone. Charlie shook his head.

"Walk me home, Mojo. I have a few things to do."

"You OK?"

"Too gloomy and feel a chill in my bones. That's all."

"OK."

"And when you get home tell that brother of yours to call me."

"I will, you ready?"

"Lead on."

"Huh?"

"Let's go."

"OK."

10.

Lido stood in the doorway of Wart's bedroom. Roberto was in the living room going back over the paperwork for Monday's project.

"Your dad said you did good.," she said.

"Mom," Wart groaned.

"Who's the girl?"

"Crud, mom,."

"Oh, OK."

Wart was quiet for a minute or so . "Sandy."

"Blonde?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't know I like her."

"I see."

"Aw, mom."

"Alright, just don't grow up too fast."

11.

When Charlie reached home, there was a package sitting against the front screen door. Mojo helped him bring it into the house.

"Did you order something? There's no UPS sticker."

"No. Let me get a pair of scissors to cut all this tape."

He cut up the side, pulled the tape and tore the brown paper covering the package.

"There's a note, Grandpa."

"Yeah, I see, maybe it will explain all this."

Charlie,

Found this while I was cleaning out the shed. Georgie didn't even tell me he finished it before, well, you know. Anyway, even though it's getting cold out, though you could use it ...

Mojo finished pulling the rest of the paper off while Charlie read. "It's a chair," she told him.

The frame was copper and the webbing was blue.

... now. Hope you like it. But as you read this I'll be on my way to Florida to see my mom. I just need to be home after all that's happened. Everything's OK, but I just had to go. Thanks for everything and for listening to me. Like a dad. Donnie was a luck guy. I'll be back. The neighbor is watching the house until I figure out what to do with it. Bye to the twins too. Be well.

,Willie

"Bye, Willie" she said. She unfolded the chair and stood it up in the living room, "Well, try it."

Charlie placed the letter on the kitchen table. "Looks good."

"Sit."

"Fit's like a glove, brand new ... Willie's on his way south to see his mom."

"I know, he didn't tell Wart and me either. Just like Wart's now at the house."

Charlie frowned. "Sometimes you have to go home. Sometimes it's the answer."

12.

"Turkey a la king?" Wart asked, "what's that?"

"Turkey, veggies and white sauce," Lido said, "you'll like it. My mom fixed it when I was growing up. Go finish up, we'll eat in a while."

"OK," wart told her.

"Charlie liked his new chair," Mojo said. She had gotten home a few minutes ago.

"Good. He's been talking about it for years.'

"Willie left it by Grandpa's door before he left."

"Willie's gone?"

"In the letter he left Charlie. He said he'd be back."

"Oh, OK ... We have a lot of turkey left I hope everyone's hungry ...I also have a leg and Mojo and I are going to make Cream Of Turkey soup."

"Next," Mojo said.

Wart grunted, "Thanks for the warning."

NOVEMBER 26th Monday morning

13.

Everyone at the Rodriguez home was up early. The kids had school and were eating breakfast.

"Roberto, you've checked everything ten times. It'll be fine," Lido told her husband.

"Let me just play with it, I'll be good when I get there," Roberto said. "This is a big deal."

"I know, Even if they just clean up the crud on the bottom."

"No crud," Wart echoed.

"That reminds me," Roberto put the paperwork on the table, "I'm going to need your services, " and then took a bite of his breakfast.

"You want me to dive? ....but no bodies," she said.

"I have to check a few things first but yes."

"OK, but I'll need a dive buddy."

Wart and Mojo put their cereal bowls in the dishwasher.

"Wart, you forgot your lunch," Lido called to him but he was gone.

"He heard it was turkey," Mojo told her.

"He'd be right," she laughed and then to Roberto, "If I do dive what if I find the bottom?"

"You will, It's down there where it's always been."

14.

Charlie and his new chair arrived at the Pond around sunrise. He watched the truck unload the large white boat by the boat ramp. Roberto's boat with the scientific equipment.

"New?" Sandy asked as she walked by

"Brand spanking!" he said and watched her go over to the four boys. She tossed them a box of fruit bars from out of her backpack.

Charlie refocused on the boat as Roberto waved to him. Charlie gave him a thumbs up.

The truck backed the boat into the water until the boat began to float and the truck pulled away.

The boat's engine roared to life and Roberto checked his laptop for the first position of the day. Charlie knew this was the only gas powered boat allowed in the Pond. There was an old ordinance forbidding it. But not for this one. And the engine was shut off after it was moved.

The vessel sat in what Charlie thought to be dead center. Maybe this will put to rest the rumor that the Pond was bottomless, he thought.

The old man glanced back over to the boys and Sandy, but they were gone. He didn't even see the boys around with Sandy surprised him. His concentration had been on the water. And keeping his vigil for Donnie.

15.

On the other side of Holly Beach almost up be old Heidi Beach, there was an old hearth. It was probably something in it's day, but now an old brick fireplace covered with graffiti, light colored paint on dark façade. It had been largely ignored of late. Some thought it was a sore spot on the Pond.

People spoke of hearing voices coming from there once in a while. Mostly when they walked around the Pond when the water level wasn't too high.

There was talk from the county that it was to be demolished. Torn down, but an icon of one of the old Pond families. Even after the feral cats had been chased out.

16.

Roberto had asked Lido to call the sheriff's office to make sure they knew what was going on at the Pond. The sheriff answered the phone. They had received a fax from Gene Park at the county. The had the schedule and Roberto's paperwork.

Glen told her everything looked good. They'd drop by to check what was going on and to call them if they needed anything. She ended the call by asking Jason the youngest deputy to call her.

17.

Sandy really wanted to hit the bank again. She had seen on the cable news that the bank was calling the robber Red Robbing Hood. Funny, ha ha, she thought. Taking from the rich to give to the poor was close. She did do it for her brothers.

But she still wanted to. And soon. They would be foreclosing on the parents house. The house she grew up in. And now her boys were homeless. And that was why she stayed at the Citadel with the nuns.

Maybe she'd dress up as herself as Peter Pan. But nah she'd definitely be in jail for that one. And where would her brothers be then. She'd figure out something.

18.

Roberto was happy with everything on the boat. All was ready. The laptop was up, the sky was clear. The anchor rested on the bottom. About 10 feet down. Right where they wanted to be. The grad students were charged up. It was only water testing and taking samples, but it was for school credit. And the thesis for one of them. And felt like the experience for when they received their Masters and graduated.

Lido called Roberto and said Jason Park the deputy was good for the dive with her. Roberto told her that was great. He did mention that they would dive in the deep area by Heidi Beach about forty feet offshore. Approximately sixty-five feet deep. The rest of the Pond was like ten to thirty feet with fifteen feet as an average.

She also told him that Park also agreed that if they found any body parts, they were all Jason's. She said the deputy had laughed and then they both laughed. It was her one big thing whenever she dove. And more and more each time. Especially after Frankenstein bones with Jason had happened. In reality it made her want to jump out of her skin or her wet suit and definitely the water.

They agreed on tomorrow morning would be best. She'd call the deputy to tell him. He had said he was available this week.

19.

Charlie was getting comfortable in his new chair. He threw a kiss to the sky to Georgie for making the chair and Willie for dropping it off before getting on the road to Florida. Well done, boys, he thought.

He enjoyed watching Roberto and his assistants on the boat. Charlie had never seen his son's son-in-law working. But it was like clockwork. The students knew what to do. He'd talk to them, they'd show him the results. No raised voices. No highs, no lows. That was Roberto.

Charlie also watched the boys, they were sitting on the sand and talking to each other with James doing most of the talking. They were probably waiting for Sandy for the food run.

20.

Lido put in a call to Jason. He was available for tomorrow morning's dive. He'd send a text to let her know when he was ready.

He also made her laugh again about her phobia about finding bones in the Pond. She countered with they were doing bottom fishing and her getting the crap scared out of her. He said he saw Roberto and the grads on the only gas powered boat on the Pond.

She said she had just spoken to him and told him to say hi to to his girlfriend as the call ended.

21.

"Uh, Charlie?" It was Sandy. The old man had been dividing his time so far today between the boat and her boys who were really her brothers.

"Oh, hi," he said.

"Can we talk?"

"I guess." he didn't know her that well. Sandy was eighteen. He didn't know many young women. Mostly he knew boys who were now men from his old store, the hobby shop, the now closed Italian restaurant or from the Pond.

She was almost hesitant.

Walt, she told him, he was following her for a few weeks. At first Charlie gave her a funny look. Then he realized she was talking about Wart. He was now privy to one of his great grandson's secrets. He apparently didn't tell girls his name was Wart, but Walt was short for his given name Walter. Wart was a gift from his twin sister when they both began to talk.

Sandy wasn't the type of person to get creeped out. But that was what she told Charlie. He and his sister had scared her a little when she had appeared from the woods behind the bank parking lot. And since he had introduced himself, this was her way of dealing with it. She really just wanted it to stop and not having some kid watching her.

She was almost a woman even though she looked young. He was eleven.

Charlie said he'd speak to him hoping to end the conversation. Something about her bothered him. A bit like Jody his daughter in law. His son Donnie's surviving spouse. Just a feeling.

While she had been speaking, he noticed something. But so did she.

Her father also James was over by the boys and talking to them. James Jr. was standing. His hands were on his hips.

"What the hell's he doing here? He's supposed to be watching the pig at the house," she said.

"Hey," she called to her father who then turned toward her. Then to Charlie, she said, "Thanks for listening. I've got to deal with this."

"OK," Charlie told her as she ran across the sand.

22.

Roberto was happy. He and the grads had been getting good samples in different areas of the Pond as they moved the boat around.

The engine had been started up, moved a few times, more samples to be kept. All well. Nothing dropped overboard. Business as usual, if this was a business.

They'd take the sample at different depths according to the depth gauge. They were now over the deepest part of the Pond.

Sixty-five feet deep. Just like the old maps said. Tomorrow when his wife Lido arrived this area will be one of the places he will ask her and Deputy Jason to dive too. He did see something on the laptop but he'd wait for the divers.

23.

Charlie wanted to keep talking to Sandy especially when he saw her missing finger. Her ring finger. Right to the knuckle. He wracked his brain to remember the story. He remembered the girl because he knew her mom. Everyone knew her mom. Interesting, smart, spooky and fascinating all at once. Like the missing finger. A ring avulsion.

Gina the mom was the person who got Jody, Donnie's wife, to go to the psychic after Donnie died. Walked into the Pond to get relief from the pain. But Jody needed answers and closure. And peace of mind. The woman was good for Jody. Donnie was in the hereafter and doing fine. He was organizing everything with others who had passed on in the family. It may have been a pat answer but just what Jody needed.

Jody laughed when she was told this. The psychic laughed too, she never knew what reaction she would receive from the survivor. She laughed again at Jody who had still been smiling. She had blamed herself. From then on Jody would tell anyone who'd listen.

24.

Charlie had watched Sandy walk over to her father and brothers. She pushed the oldest brother behind her.

"All I asked you was to watch Penny, you promised Mom," she told him.

"That pig don't like me. She's like 200 ponds now, she was small when we got her for you. After you lost your finger," he said.

"Keep your voice down, I'd take her too if I could. I'm taking care of the boys. You don't have to do that. When Mom died a year ago, you promised. When she was sick ."

From the cancer from the pancreas

He put his head down, "I know. At least she went fast Doctor told us she would."

"Watch the pig, she keeps getting loose. Fix the fence ...", Sandy paused, "Why are you here anyway?"

"I saw my old red hoodie on the tv news. They have you on the bank video. Calling you Red Robbing Hood."

"Peter Pan under the hood," she grinned.

"Just thought I'd find you first, "he said.

"What do you really want?"

"Part of the take. The money. For use of the hoodie." He smiled

"Good luck with that. I'll give you $10."

25.

Charlie was trying his best not to listen to Sandy and her father argue. To blank it out. But he remembered when Gina died. Gina was the Pig Lady. She and her swine even made the cover of Newsday.

Every time the pig got loose, the newspaper did a story on them. Charlie swore the pig got bigger every time it went onto roam around town.

The pig had been a gift from the parents to Sandy after she lost her finger. Penny the pig. And almost a year since the pig escaped its enclosure and Gina would chase the pig down Taylor the main drag. Once it even made it up to Farm And Market.

The story went that Sandy was a tomboy who climbed trees, fences and almost anything else she could climb. The day it happened, she was climbing over a hurricane metal fence and her ring finger got caught on the top. She heard a short pop. Her ring and ring finger went one way and she went the other.

She picked up the finger and put it in her shirt pocket while holding her bloody hand by the wrist. She made it home without passing put. Her mom put a wrap on her arm and she and her parents were off to the hospital.

In all the craziness, the finger was lost or they would have attempted to reattach it. She got used to it, but she would never forget about it. No one would notice until they were up close. She was good at hiding the missing digit.

26.

While Sandy was talking to her father, the twins showed up at the Pond. Charlie saw them park their bikes about ten feet from him on the sand.

"What's all this?" he asked them.

Wart was shaking his head. "Some kid on the bus this morning said he had a bomb in his backpack so we got out of school early. They're checking the school too."

Mojo also said, "We didn't hear him say it and didn't even know about it until the security guy cam to our class to get him."

"You too OK?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," they both answered. Wart added, "Someone must have told the teacher about it. They grabbed the kid and his backpack and told us we were going home."

"Well, I'm glad you're both OK. It'll probably be on Cable News. Just hope won't be on CNN or Fox because this place will be a zoo. Uh, can I talk to you, Wart?"

"OK, what's up?" Then he saw Sandy.

"Alone."

27.

Over on the science boat, one of the grad students pulled up a tire from the water. Then a full beer can, car batteries and a set of keys all inside of five minutes.

She showed them to Roberto and he just smiled. He wondered what other stuff was down there. He'd ask Lido to to look around with one of the large underwater lights. Maybe they'd find the rest of the car or the six pack.

Wart and Mojo waved to their dad. He didn't wave back but honked the boat airhorn which moved the boat to it's next location about ten feet away. He then put two arms over his head and the kids did the same. in return.

The grad students were getting a long tape ready to check the sediment layers of the bottom. See what it would tell.

28.

"What's up, Grandpa Charlie? Wart asked.

"Sandy spoke to me, not really about you, but you need to know a few things," Charlie told him. "She's got a lot going on, Just a couple of things. That's her father there. She's too old for you and she's missing a finger."

"OK."

"That was too easy."

"Like I said, I'm not stupid. I saw what happened. Jamedanaliam need her. I wouldn't fit in with that."

"Wart," it was Mojo, "Look."

The Huskie dog they had been looking for by the bank was with another Huskie. Wart stood up and began walking over.

Charlie stood up too. "Don't you want to know which finger?"

"Left ring."

Charlie grinned. Kid's not stupid, he said to himself.

29.

Charlie watch Wart walk over to Sandy and her brothers. She was petting the male dog.

Wart was about ten feet from them and Mojo was about 10 feet from him.

"Wolfie?" he called to the dog. The dog glanced at him.

"Is it him?" Mojo asked.'

"Think so."

"Call him again."

"Wolfie." The dog came to him sniffed him quickly, licked his face as Wart rubbed the dog's back.

"That's my King. Here, boy, my baby," Sandy said. The dog came to her after she threw him a bone shaped doggie biscuit.

"This is my dog," Wart said.

"He's been my dog for a while. And he's got a girlfriend. Here, Queenie."

Mojo said, "He seems happy."

"I know ...".

"Next time we bring snacks."

"Uh huh ... and even he has a girlfriend. Let's get out of here."

30.

Roberto put the binoculars down. He too saw the two dogs on the beach. He was the one who had bought the dog for his son. He too was fascinated by the animal, his temperament, his coat, his eyes. Wolfie was a good dog who seemed to be needing something. A mate was obvious, but it was something else. Who knows why pets runaway.

With one of the grad students, they checked the map for tomorrow's tests and the dive spots he wanted Jason and Lido to dive on.

He glanced again at the shoreline only to see Sandy had left, the boys and the dogs were walking on the sand passed old Heidi Beach.

His two kids were saying goodbye to Charlie. The old man was the only one on the sand now. Peering over the Pond, on his solo vigil for his deceased son. Roberto waved to him but no response from Charlie. Like a statue frozen in a new copper chair on a sandy beach.

31.

"Mrs. Desmond?" Mojo couldn't find her cat. They were home. It was after dinner. Lido had used up the last of the turkey in some kind of gumbo recipe they found on the internet. So everyone had been fed including the cat.

Wart went to bed after dinner. The family knew how his day went without even talking to him. Mojo was left to fill in the blanks.

"Where are you, cat?" Mojo said.

"Lido told her, "She's in with Wart."

"Oh ... uh, thanks.'

Mojo popped her head inside Wart's bedroom door. "You still alive? Thought the turkey got you."

Wart rubbed the fur under the cat's chin and she purred. "Nah, I'm OK."

"Good," she paused, "You take everything so serious."

"Guess I do."

"OK, where's my twin, you're not him."

Wart smiled. The cat stretched and purred again. "Just tired of the crud."

November 27th Tuesday, morning

32.

Charlie was already in his chair at the beach. He had been there since sunrise. It was quiet. He had slept well, only got up once during the night to pee. A good night for him.

The twins were in school and Roberto and the grad students were on the boat with laptops at the ready. Lines were over the side for tests. Long pole being assembled to be plunged into the bottom of the Pond to check how deep the sedentary muck went. To compare it to the old muck from the last time it was done. The water was about ten to fifteen feet deep where they were.

Lido and her dive buddy , the deputy would be here later. They would be diving in the deepest known area of the Pond. Around sixty-five feet. The limit of both their depth certifications. So much for no bottom.

Roberto waved and this time Charlie responded with his hand outstretched over his head. , The grad students waved to him too.

Jamedanaliam, Sandy's brothers, were here too but over by Heidi Beach. He has seen them walk over from the old hearth. He couldn't figure out what they did over there. But here they were, waiting for Sandy and their daily early meal.

The father James just parked his car in the town beach parking lot. He carried a couple of plastic bags. Chocolate bars, Ring Dings and Cokes. Pure sugar.

Charlie was fascinated as the soap opera unfolded each day.

Sandy got there about ten minutes later. She screamed and threw her bags of fruit, apples and oranges, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, string cheese and fruit juice boxes and flavored seltzers.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sandy yelled at her father. "They need protein and vitamins. Who's watching Penny?"

"Leave them alone," James Sr. told her. "The pig is fine."

"You're their father in name only."

"You're not their mother."

33.

One of the grad students pounded the long pole into the crud at the bottom of the Pond.

"How's it going in?" Roberto asked.

"Good, pretty soft for the moment, I'm waiting for a thunk", the male grad responded as one of the female students took over the task.

"Let me know when it does."

"OK, will do."

Roberto checked his laptop for the latest graphs and showed them to the three other grads. Everyone nodded as Roberto pointed to the chart and then the water.

"Lido and Jason will be here around noon. We'll assist them after we move the boat. They'll be micked too and have vidcams if we can see anything."

34.

In the distance a sheriff cruiser siren could be heard. It was getting louder by the minute.

Sandy stood up. She could see the pig coming down the hill towards them and the Pond.

"Oh, crap. Penny," she said. She stared at her father. "You were watching her, huh ," she yelled.

"Guess, she got through the fence again," he told her. "I got this."

"You got nothin' " she said and then the pig crossed Sachem Pond Road and headed for the public beach not stopping. "Penny!" she shrieked as the pig almost got hit by a car.

Two hundred pounds onto the the parking lot then the sand with no sign of stopping.

Jerry pulled the cruiser into the parking lot and turned off the siren. He got out of the car and then to the trunk to get the shotgun and put in a shell. It clicked. Everyone heard that sound.

Sandy said, "She won't hurt anyone, I'll get her.".

Jerry stood his ground but nodded.

"Penny?" Sandy walked toward the oncoming pig.

The pig snorted like it recognized her, but kept going.. She ran toward the father. "Got this," he said. Somehow his right hand got in the pig's mouth. The pig bit down and kept running to the water.

Her father was left with a bloody stump shredded at the wrist. Lot of blood. He clenched his forearm. Jerry ran to him. He put a twist tie on so James didn't bleed out.

The pig had run into the water and then dove.

"Can she swim?" Jerry asked Sandy.

"Don't know," she told him.

"Looks like she can dive."

"Guess so." Then she started crying.

"Come here, I need your help."

She walked over.

The pig surfaced and began to swim to the shoreline.

"Guess she can swim too," Jerry said.

35.

Charlie sat in his chair, watched it all happen and shook his head.

He knew pigs could swim. His father once took the family up to his brother's farm upstate. They had chickens, horses and pigs. Charlie gravitated to the piglets who screamed when he picked them up to bring them back to their mother. He was fascinated that they ate everything. They were fed mostly corn but the older ones could eat meat. .

So when the pig broke the surface he noticed the pig's mouth was empty. Maybe she swallowed the hand. Maybe she dropped it. Maybe Lido and Jason could dive for it. He'd tell her when she gets here in a few hours.

36.

The ambulance arrived and all hell broke loose. Jerry still had James by the wrist, the attendants ran toward them and took over. James looked like he was going to pass out if it wasn't for his anger at the pig.

Jerry picked up the shotgun to continue checking on the pig. But the pig was gone.

"Where's that pig now ..." he said. It was nowhere to be seen. Then he glanced around the sand for the missing right hand. No hand either.

He had barely finished his sentence when the pig surfaced. She swam in a circle.

"Didn't know pigs could swim?" Jerry said.

"And dive too," Sandy added.

Jerry pointed the shotgun at the water.

"You're not shooting my pig!"

"Your pig?"

"Yes, mine. ever since I lost my finger."

"Uh ..."

She pulled an apple out of her pocket. "Here, let me get her. Do you have a rope?"

Jerry opened the car trunk again and fished out a rope. "Let's get to the bottom of this. I have to call Animal Control, you know."

She took the rope, made a loop and showed the apple to the pig. "Come here, baby .... Yeah, I know."

Slipped the rope around the pig's neck after the pig came to her for the fruit.

"She never liked my father, She's a good girl. Smart too."

37.

While all the commotion was going on Charlie watched the four brothers head off in the direction of the old hearth. He turned his head away again and they were gone.

For just a moment, he told himself, he wondered if the father would be OK. This was really turning into an old movie that couldn't be made up.

Roberto texted him. What the heck? the message said. Charlie didn't reply back but shook his head, not that he didn't answer but Roberto wouldn't believe it. Charlie just made the cuckoo gesture with his finger on the side of his head.

Another text from Roberto. Cuckoo? Then a smiley face. Tell Lido what happened. Charlie then flashed an OK sign. Sure he will, he thought.

38.

Noon.

The Mommobile pulled into the town beach parking lot. Lido waved to Charlie.as she walked over to him.

"Hi, guess I'm early," she said.

"You missed all the entertainment."

She frowned as he related the story and ended with a big wow from her. He also told her she was going to have to file in the parts to Roberto He and his grad assistants saw the whole circumstance but without the explanation.

"Was Jason here?" she asked.'

"Not til now." The deputy's cruiser parked next to the Mommobile.

Roberto had guided the boat near the place in the water he wanted them to dive into. On one side of the boat the water was sixty-five feet deep and the other side was thirty. It was close by where the pig had dove.

Roberto gestured hi to Lido. She waved back.

"Guess I'm on," she said to Charlie.

"Good luck," he told her as she began to walk toward the cars to the Deputy

They both had their wet suits on. Jason had the trunk of the car open and was making sure that he had all the things he needed for their dive.

"Hey, Mrs. R," the deputy said.

"Hi, Jason," she returned his greeting. "Were you here for all the excitement?"

"Nope. It was strictly the Jerry and Penny the pig show. And Captain Hook's".

"Captain ....?"

"Pig bit the father's hand off. Jerry couldn't tell if it swallowed it."

"Ew, Charlie forgot to tell me that part."

Back in the boat, Roberto blew a whistle to get his wife's and the deputy's attention.

"Did they forget about us?" he said to one of the grads who laughed.

"Here they come," she told him.

Jason and Lido gave Roberto a thumb's up. They helped each other get their tanks on, spit on their face masks and put in their breathers as they headed for the water.

They tested the microphones built into the face masks.

"Hey, Jason," Lido said.

"Turn it down a little I hear you," he said.

"And I hear both of you," Roberto told them.

40.

Charlie sat alone on the sand. From his chair he watched the boat which was now close to the shoreline on the Pond.

He had watched Jason and Lido dive below the waterline with a bag of stuff Roberto had supplied for the dive. They were going to be busy, he thought and for once he'd love to be down there with them. He knew the Pond had a bottom but still.

41.

"You guys still with me?" Lido asked.

"Yes," Jason and Roberto both answered. "Got you too," Roberto added.

"OK, let's go down further," Jason said as he pointed his flashlight toward the deepest part of the Pond.

The depth wasn't a hole, but more like a mini-basin or even a dimple. They both had large clear plastic bags and a few one gallon bags for smaller stuff.

Lido first found a pint liquor bottle and bagged it. Jason a broken tv remote control about twelve inches long. Lido an old hubcap, Jason a wireless mouse.

"People toss the damnedest stuff into the Pond, and this is only the beginning," she said as she shook head and took out a small empty jar and opened the lid to and then placed the sample in the bag.

"I've got something," Jason said, " Follow my hand with your flashlight."

They both trained their lights on what appeared to be a clutched right leather glove. He didn't say what it was to Lido Jason knew it was the father's severed hand. He gestured to her to stay back because in their other dives she had shown a phobia for body pats and bones.

He put it in the large bag.

"Let's go," he said.

"What happened?" Roberto asked loudly.

"We're good," Jason said.

"Jason found something," Lido told him.

Instead of swimming for the shoreline, they swam to the boat. They climbed the ladder on the side of the boat, took off their face masks and sat down.

"Let me see what you got," Roberto said to Jason.

The deputy stood and tossed his the small bag. He blocked Lido's view.

"Is that a glove?" Roberto asked.

"That's what I first thought. No, it's a hand," Jason said.

Lido heard them and turned towards the water. She thanked Jason. He said, no problem.

"There's something in the fold of the hand," Roberto said.

"I'm going to take my thanks back," she said.

Roberto pried the fingers open. He and Jason saw a small finger in a clear glass vial.

"Now who does this belong to?"

42.

The only two people left on the beach were Sandy and Charlie. Charlie continued his stare out at the boat.

Sandy had decided to leave after her father was taken by ambulance to the hospital. The attendants had managed to stop the bleeding at the wrist with a twist and a clamp. She looked down at her ring finger, now missing for years, disappeared same day it all happened.

Penny was in Animal Control. She went peacefully once they got her out of the water. Her brothers were in their safe space. Thank god, she thought. The deputy had told her to call him.

During the walk back to the nuns. To the Citadel. She'd spend the rest of the afternoon there doing chores to keep her mind blank, she would say later.

But nowhere were thoughts on her mom. Sandy was glad she wasn't here to see what a mess it had all became.

Growing up she called her mom her dad. Even back then. Her dad was useless to them.

And now he's in a hospital, she thought. He lost a lot of blood, Now, without a right hand. She couldn't even cry, but she'd think about him.

43.

On the boat, they had all watched what happened on the beach. Charlie was the only constant. He hadn't moved from his new chair.

They saw the cruiser pull up. Jerry pull his gun. Jason almost called him on his cell, but he waited for everything to calm down. Jerry was still shaken up even after the Town caught the pig and put it in the back of their truck.

The pig didn't stop squealing until Sandy stood by the back door. She got her hand through the bars and the pig licked her four fingers on the hand with the missing finger. It was like the pig knew.

44.

When Jason got off the phone with Jerry, he just shook his head.

Jerry had said, "She just got between the gun and the pig. I mean, the safety was still on, but damn."

He continued, "I haven't pulled a gun in a while. I shoot at the range when the sheriff tells me and I clean it. That's it."

Jerry talked more. Jason let him to allow him to vent and calm down.

"Man, I can ramble," Jerry added and then smiled.

Jason told him, "You had to, It's cool."

45.

After Sandy left, Charlie thought about what he was going to say to Wart. About what Sandy said, about Wart. He'd think of something. It wasn't going to be easy.. Easy, ha. How do you let a kid with a crush down easy. He did know he didn't want to be eleven again. He had a hard enough time with being the age he was.

Charlie glanced over to the boat. He could see Lido and Jason getting ready to dive again. Spitting into the diving masks and testing their mouthpieces to make sure were in proper working order or at least worked.

After everything got calm, the word of the day, he was tired. He didn't think he nodded off. But he had an image in his mind. The brothers walked up the beach to the left. When they reached the hearth, they went into it and disappeared. Did he dream it or even see it? His mind was still healthy to his knowledge. He let out a small laugh and sighed.

They were making more adjustments on the boat. Mostly it was the laptops and other things Roberto wanted them to dive down with. Some would be left on the bottom for longer tests or what could be read remotely.

In the parking lot, Sandy's dad's car still sat. Charlie didn't even know if it was locked, he'd check the door when he'd leave with the twins.

46.

Lido had attempted to text Charlie when she saw all the excitement on the shore. He didn't answer. Either he didn't have it or didn't have the cell phone on. He was still getting used to having a phone.

She was so glad her kids were still in school and didn't see what had happened. It would have been worse if the deputy shot the pig. Mojo would have been really upset.

The twins would be here soon. She'd probably be underwater, but they'd be in touch. Charlie would explain it and she would tell them what they saw. The gun aimed at the pig. Maybe. Probably.

47.

One hour passed, Charlie turned to get more comfortable in the copper chair. Jason and Lido were under the water

as Roberto and the grad students monitored everything.

"Grandpa Charlie." It was Mojo. Wart was running next to her as they came towards the old man.

"Hi there," Charlie said.

"Where's the pig?" Wart asked

"How do you know about that?"

"You're kidding right. It's all over school."

"They took her away, she's OK."

Mojo looked around the beach, "Where's Wart's girlfriend?" she asked.

"She wh ...", Charlie began to say.

"I'm over that," Wart said. He poked Mojo.

"You are? Already?" Charlie was surprised.

"Yeah. It was getting weird. And she had a pig too."

Mojo poked Wart back. "Pigs are cool!"

48.

Lido had been the first one in the water. Jason followed.

They swam over to one of the spots that Roberto wanted them to check.

Lido said, "Thanks for protecting me from the 'glove', Roberto told me it was a hand."

"No problem,"on told her, "We all have our things, phobias if you will. Whenever I watch those vet shows on cable, I get queasy when they do surgery."

"You?"

"Yup, me."

"My worst was Frankenstein, the bones they found under the ice last winter."

"Frankenstein! Oh, yeah. Jimmy Ferry. He was pretty broken up."

"You're so funny."

When they reached the spot, Lido took a water sample and then some of the funky goop that she called the bottom of the Pond. It was extra goopy today, she would say later.

Jason got the metal detector ready. He was a bit surprised when he discovered it worked in the Pond, even the deep spot where he found the hand. Roberto told him this one was submersible up to two hundred feet. He had headphones but the sound was turned off and he'd watch the detector's light.

He saw that Lido was done getting the samples and the muck. The detector was going to cloud the water. Lido would hold the flashlight.

She had a black mesh bag which she had unfolded. It was in her left hand so she pointed the flashlight with the other. Jason followed the light.

They were right over the deepest spot where the hand was. Sixty five feet approximately. Lido moved the light about five feet to the left. Jason followed with the detector. The light went on the machine. Lido saw it too.

Lido kept the flashlight on the spot. Jason had a long net, the kind used for swimming pools.

The item was caked with sediment, but still recognizable. It was a hand gun. Old as hell, Jason thought, from back in the day. Lido opened the bag and Jason dropped it in. Then she moved the light again, lucky find on the first try, she told Jason. He nodded and gave her a thumb's up.

49.

"OK, next time you stare a two hundred pound pig in the face," Jerry told Glen back in the office. "I know it's a pet but ...".

"That pig is famous, been in the New York Times and Newsday, even been on tv," the sheriff told him.

"Glad I didn't have to shoot it, especially when the girl got between me and her pet."

"All hell would have broke loose."

"Yup, all hell. Just got a call from Jason. They found an old pistol in the Pond. Go and get it and we'll send it to the lab, OK?"

"As long as that pig's gone. The girl too."

"They're gone. Didn't you see them all leave?"

"Yeah, but ... I don't like pigs. I don't even like pork." Jerry said as he headed out the door.

50.

The sun at the Pond went behind a cloud and Charlie said he got a chill.

"Then let's go," Wart said.

Charlie folded up his chair and began walking to where the twins had parked their bikes.

"This is good because I promised Mom I'd put the lasagna in the oven," Mojo told them.

"You're having lasagna?" Charlie asked.

"Yup," Wart said.

"I like your mom's Italian."

"She puts a little Tabasco in," Mojo told Charlie.

"Sounds good."

"You should come over then."

"I wouldn't want to invite myself."

Mojo shook her head. "Then I'm inviting you."

"Me too," Wart said.

"Then I accept." Charlie answered.

When they reached the bikes, they walked passed Sandy's father's car.

Wart looked in. "Keys are in there," he pulled on the door handle, "but it's locked."

"Guess it will be OK," Charlie said, "but it will have to be."

51.

Sandy stood in the doorway of the Citadel tv room as she watched the local cable news.

She was done with her chores and was to be a server for dinner tonight.

"Penny the pig is in the news again," the newsman said.

"Yup, seems she got loose today and ended up down at Sachem Pond. One of the men following her in his car tried to catch her. But she wasn't having any of that. He got his hand caught on one of her tusks. And lost his right hand. He died while being taken to the university hospital because of blood loss."

"That's a sad story. I almost feel sorry for the pig. We'll be right back."

Sandy's hand went to her mouth.All she said was, my Penny.

52.

Charlie and the kids saw the same local report.

"They didn't say anything about the girl catching the pig or the deputy aiming his gun at them." Charlie said.

"How do you know that,? Wart asked.

"I was there. I saw it. And nothing about the pig in the water either."

The twins were glad as Charlie changed the channel.

"Wow," Mojo said.

"Yes, wow, it was a real circus," Charlie added.

Mojo went into the kitchen, took the lasagna tray from the fridge and put it on the counter. She called to Wart who then helped her put the pasta on an oven shelf.

"Mom will know when it's done. I'll tell her when we put it in.".

53.

On the Pond, Jason and Lido were back on the boat. They were removing some of the diving equipment.

"How are you doing?" Roberto said to both of them.

"OK, here," Jason said.

"I'm good too," Lido told him. "We should get home before the twins burn down the house.

"Wart texted me that Charlie's with them, they invited him for dinner," Roberto said.

"Good, we have plenty." Lido put her tanks and mask back by the motor.

The grad students were finishing up, putting laptops and other equipment into cases and bags for transit.

"One more time tomorrow and that's all until we get the lab results," Roberto took the fins from Lido. "I'm hungry."

54.

A Tabasco aftertaste woke Charlie this morning. Four Tums antacids and a glass of milk got him to sleep but a couple more Tums with his cereal allowed him to be at the Pond, even though it was still dark when he woke.

Sunrise was golden on the water. Not like a summer sun but good enough, he thought.

He had crossed his legs as he sat in his new chair and a thought of Willie now in Florida and dropped off the chair made him smile. He missed them both when he knew the cousins weren't at their house a few blocks over they were here.

He pretended to be asleep when he saw the four brothers exit the opening of the old hearth. Jamedanaliam. James first, Daniel, then Aaron and Liam. They walked over toward him to wait for Sandy and whatever food she would bring them.

He turned his body to the boys. When he opened his eyes, Sandy was standing in front of him. Hands on her hips.

She had already dropped off water bottles and food to the boys. They acted like they hadn't eaten for a week.

"Can I talk with you?" she asked.

Charlie nodded. "Sure." People always liked to talk to him even when he had the his store. He guessed they did because he tried to be friendly. He was. And they spoke to him even more now that he was older and more visible by the Pond. He would listen and not not give his opinion unless they wanted it. Mojo was like him. Wart not so much.

Sandy was wearing her hat with the feather.

"You look like Peter Pan," he told her

"He's my idol." She adjusted the hat.

"Sorry about your father." He smiled.

"Glad you said father, because he wasn't much of a dad. You seem like you were a good one."

"I tried, but I had a great wife. I was lucky."

"My father was a bully who wanted me to be a boy. Funny to me now because my mom was so feminine."

"I remember your mom."

"Thanks. She was my mentor. Taught me a lot about life. Take what you need, take care of your brothers, do no harm."

"We all have a similar mantra," Charlie told her.

"Not my father. Selfish, playing favorites with the younger boys. Always wanted something. But I will miss him because he's not here anymore."

"Well, there's that. You wanted to say something?"

"I guess I did. I wanted to talk about my father, but you zoned right in on it." She stood up. "I have to tell the boys, they don't know yet."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm gonna need it."

55.

Roberto sat on the boat still on the ramp alone as he waited for the others to arrive. Lido was at the house for breakfast with the twins and made sure they got off to school.

He looked up from his papers and the laptop as he heard a big truck. It stopped over by the hearth. Two men were unloading a bulldozer.

He caught Charlie's eye and shrugged to him. Charlie shrugged back. The dozer engine started up. The taller man backed the machine of the trailer. He parked it by the old brick structure. The truck engine roared to life and they left.

56.

Sandy hugged all the boys. The younger one a little harder than the older ones who felt like she did.

They ate and drank and talked about missing their mom.

57.

Charlie sat on the beach and watched the boat again. He could asked Sandy more about Peter Pan."

And she could have said, I want to be him when I grow up.

But she was almost all grown up, even at eighteen. Even though she was short.

And there were the boys, the deceased man with the missing hand and the pig who bit it off.

And he would have replied, me too. Growing up, he laughed that he had grown up three or four times so far. It was the so much as the aches or the growing pains.

58.

Roberto gazed over at the town beach from the white boat. For another day, again, one more time. He saw Charlie still in his copper chair.

The grad students were already on their laptops checking the instruments which had been lowered over the side. A couple of them would look up once in a while and smile at him. He would smile back which added to their confidence. They were doing important but mundane work that they hoped would turn into a career after they graduated from Sunny Brook University. With that so necessary piece of parchment.

Roberto texted Charlie that he was glad the old man had come over to the house last night for dinner. Charlie texted back a thumb's up. He never used words, just emojis that Mojo taught him to use. Then he'd wave to Roberto and Roberto would wave back.

Charlie was Lido's grandfather, but also her godfather too. And though they didn't talk as much as Roberto or Charlie wanted, they were close.

He was Roberto's only close by in law. Lido's father had walked into the Pond when she was small so she didn't remember much of him. Charlie would tell her stories about him and now he was telling the twins about him.

Lido's mom was in Virginia where Lido had grown up. But she had a strong enough pull to Charlie and the Pond.

Roberto had come to Sunny Brook a year before he met Lido in Mexico where he was from. He'd been to conferences and seminars in Miami to Toronto and then Sunny Brook offered him a full professorship.

A year later he met Lido. She was a good student, but not in one of his classes, but in that of his friend Esteban. He got his friend to introduce them.

Love at first site, Lido always said. They ate out a lot. They knew every cafe by the college there. His parents also told him about a favor that they always would keep secret.

59.

Jason and Lido were in the water. They were looking for a marker left the other day marking the middle of the Pond. They had a plaque with them. Black on the bottom etched lettering in black on a silver top. Shiny and striking to see.

The plaque had needed something to see if you dove and came upon it. But it was Wart who came up with what was written on it. You found it. The centermost point of Sachem Pond. Wart had used centerest, pure Wart. But they did change it then saying that centermost would be approved. Even for something that all would see.

60.

The end of school alarm rang and the twins were already running for the bike rack. They rode passed the front of the school. The Kelly brothers were already drinking a soda while sitting on the curb in front of the deli. No one even knew how they did it, but there before the alarm stopped ringing. No one ever asked but they wondered.

Mojo and Wart took the turn onto Sachem Pond Road to see their Grandpa Charlie. They pulled into the town beach parking lot, through the gate.

Wart was still laughing about the syrupy hi's, Justin gave Mojo at the bike rack.

"Hi, Mojo," Wart said in a mocking voice. It made Mojo speed up as they pushed their bikes on the sand toward their great grandfather.

"You're so funny," she told him.

"What's so funny?" Charlie asked.

"Wart's teasing me," she said.

"Hi, Grandpa Charlie," Wart grinned, "Anything going on?"

"Not so far."

Mojo turned his head and said, "Look, look, Wart!"

"I'm looking, what?"

"Look, Wart," Charlie also said, " the hearth."

"No, you look," Wart said.

As the twins had put their bikes on the sand, Sandy and her brothers were still talking. Then Sandy got up and headed toward the parking lot and the boys up the shoreline to the hearth.

Wart was watching Sandy who walked up to her father's care and peered in. She saw the keys still in the car.

She looked around. She didn't notice Wart watching. It was an older car, over ten years old. She hit the door handle with the heel of her hand. Nothing happened. It's was worth a try, she thought.

Then put her hand in her pocket, pulled out another key and opened the door.. She grabbed the keys from the transmission and quickly shut the door. Looked around again. Still didn't see Wart. She walked through the parking lot to Sachem Pond Road. And then back to the Citadel for more chores.

Meanwhile, Mojo and Charlie were still zeroed in on the brothers. They were standing in front of the hearth checking out the bulldozer about which the youngest brother said, it was sleeping.

One by one they entered the hearth and closed the false wall to the world behind them.

"Always wondered where they went," Charlie said.

"Both cool and weird at the same time," Mojo then said. "Wart?"

"She opened the car door and took the keys," he told them.

"What are you talking about?"

"She had a key for the door, the car."

"Oh."

"She got the keys? What did you see?"

She then told him where the brothers went.

He said, "Not for long. Mom said that's gonna be bulldozed real soon. Knocked down."

"She didn't tell me, wonder why?"

"I asked."

61.

Lido and Jason broke the surface of the water. They yelled to the grad students to get Roberto.

"What is it?" Roberto asked.

"They're broken," Lido said.

Floating gauges that they placed in the far end of the Pond were smashed and sitting on the Pond bottom.

Jason waved one in the air. The glass case was cracked open like an egg.

"Really?" Roberto shook his head. No more time or gauges to redo them. The grads even stopped and stared at the broken instruments and wondered why Roberto wasn't even more mad.

"Hand them up. We'll just have to see what we have."

Jason just said, "KWR."

"Huh?'

"Kids With Rocks."

62.

Charlie spent a while watching the boat while the twins sat with him. They knew it was to be the last dive of the day. They only had a few things left to do. Lido was ready to get their family life back to normal.

Wart was getting restless and Charlie suggested they leave. Mojo texted her dad who said they'd be home in about an hour. Roberto waved to them.

63.

Lido and Jason broke the surface of the Pond again. They were both excited. They had checked the instruments at the sites that Roberto needed done, but they also checked the deep spot on the bottom where Jason had found the hand.

Lido barely had the mouthpiece out when she said, "You won't believe what's down there."

"We checked the hole again with the big lights," Jason added.

"Small boats, trees, floating docks ..."

"A ton of bottles and other stuff."

"I want to go in there again. Maybe pull a few things up."

One of the grad students said, cool.

Roberto just said, "That's a lot, anything else?"

"You want a coconut or something. Isn't that enough?"

Roberto finally laughed.

64.

After the twins walked Charlie home, he switched on the local cable news. He really wanted to see if they covered Roberto and the boat. Though he hadn't seen a camera all week. Maybe they'd use some stock footage.

They were still talking about the bank robbery that the kids saw. Little Red Robbing Hood was what they were now calling the robber. The bank manager announcing that the reward for apprehension was now $10,000 up from $5,000. He still looked pissed, Charlie thought, then don't be open on weekends. No more leads.

Next up was a story on Maude Adams, the actress, the original Peter Pan in early movies. A local land owner who gave her holdings to the nuns at the Citadel when she died because she had no heirs.

Charlie remembered Sandy telling him she was related to Miss Adams. A great granddaughter or something. But blood related. The girl lied. And a bold one at that. As much as Charlie hated lying he did wonder what else she had lied about.

65.

November 28th, Wednesday morning.

Charlie didn't get much sleep. He'd been up to pee about five times from the Diabetes. It wasn't so much the inconvenience but that his gut also knew something. Something going on. Something today.

He did want to have another talk with Sandy. Just a talk. Back and forth. He wasn't her father. Or even her friend. He could be if she hadn't lied. But it wasn't even that. He wasn't the lie police, like Wart would say. But just a talk.

He made a cup of tea and toasted a muffin. Made a ham sandwich on rye for his pocket for when he got hungry around noon.

A thick shirt, thermals under his pants. Going to be a windy day. It wasn't the cold but the wind that got into his old bones.

Out the door with his new chair for balance on the way. Bless Georgie, he thought, and Willie for dropping it off before he left for Florida. To see his mom.

Charlie hadn't thought about his own mom in a while. He knew she was always with him. In his mind in his heart where all good memories are kept. But he couldn't hear her voice anymore. Just her laugh. He could always make her laugh. And she would always tell him, "I needed that" and then she'd laugh again. But he couldn't hear her voice. He guessed it was because he was older now, Nothing more than that.

He pulled the copper chair open on the beach sand and sat down. Not windy yet, maybe he could relax. His gut was still telling him today was going to be a busy day.

66.

Roberto was also concerned about the wind today. And sometimes when it blew over the Pond it would upset their instruments more than the cold air.

"It will be fine," Lido told him and hugged him from behind.

They were still in bed waiting for the first one to jump in the shower.

"I know. Guess I just want to get back to the university. Tell them all about your dives and the results we found."

"Sounds, good, Professor. I'm ready to start teaching again too. But diving has been refreshing. Getting away from it all."

"Me too?."

"Especially you," She laughed.

67.

Charlie's heard some goings on by the hearth. The old abandoned fire place with the graffiti on the front walls. It had been built by a long gone owner with a home on the Pond.

Six feet tall and nine feet wide. Four boys fit easily.

Charlie pretended to be asleep as the back wall moved. One by one the brothers exited. They walked over to where they met with Sandy every day.

The old man sat forward in his chair. The youngest waved to Charlie who waved back. The other siblings didn't notice.

68.

Sandy arrived at the Pond about an hour later. She had a big bag full of stuff for them. They each hugged her.

Everyone got a water bottle, a banana and a yogurt bar.

She was wearing her Peter Pan hat, a pair of jeans and also a red hoodie with the hood down. She decided to because who would know and it kept her neck warm.

69.

Charlie still wanted to speak to Sandy but he was in no hurry.. He had watched her feed her brothers.

She saw him watching and gave him a thumb's up, he returned the gesture. The red hoodie. That was what he was really watching. And if he hadn't seen the news last night he wouldn't even be noticing it.

But there it was in front of everybody. And only he knew. Like it was part of her. Now. And an image one bank manager couldn't put out of his mind.

70.

Lido was wearing her diving suit. The boat was still on the ramp but ready to go. The grad students already on their laptops. Roberto was the last to board.

Jason called to say he'd be late. About a half hour. Someone called about the bulldozer parked at the far end of the Pond.

Today Lido motioned to see back to the hole and pull out one of the floating docks down there. Her mom always talked about them. Swimming out to them and then diving off. They belonged to the Holly or Heidi beaches. No one could remember. There were pictures but it was still hard to tell.

71.

"Where is it?" the smallest asked as he checked his pockets.

"Where's what?" Sandy asked.

"My game, the one you gave me."

She had bought him a little game that lit up from the dollar store. He loved it.

"I'll get it," James the oldest told them.

"It's gotta be in my sleeping bag. That's where I had it last." The small boy checked his pockets again.

"I know where it is."

Sandy said, "OK, but don't be long."

72.

Two county workers in yellow vests parked behind the dozer trailer. The driver stayed in the truck as the other man jumped up onto the trailer bed. He sat in the cab and attempted to start the big machine. The bulldozer roared to life.

James saw all this and so did Charlie. Everyone else at the Pond heard it. It was loud.

The dozer was slowly eased off the trailer. The worker made sure the treads didn't get caught on the ramp. He parked it in front of the hearth opening.

73.

"I still got this", James told himself as the two men talked. The dozer was idling until it warmed up.

James ran to the spot between the hearth and the machine.

Charlie still wanted to talk with Sandy. But she and the other boys were standing by the car now. Her hand was in her pocket groping for her dad's car keys.

74.

The worker revved the dozer engine. The blade lifted and the machine swung toward the old bricks. He was moving gears and feathering the gas pedal to get the dozer into position.

The first blow didn't move the hearth much. He picked a different spot and a few of the bricks finally fell.

A few more glancing blows by the dozer and bricks were on the ground.

Charlie put his head down. He wondered if the worker even knew what happened. What he'd done.

When he looked up, he then stood. He did want to talk to Sandy even more now.

75.

Sandy was now sitting in the front seat of the car, driver door was open.

She had the Peter Pan hat on. But she was all grown up now. She was the parents. Both of them. The role her mother wore well.

76.

Charlie was still standing and then walked toward the car. When he was around halfway, four faces showed through the back window.

Charlie smiled. He was thinking the worst. One boy dead. By a bulldozer. By a machine.

James next had ran to the car while he had his head down.. Charlie was amazed but it was a good amazed.

He looked up again. Two huskie dog faces joined the boys in the back window. Wolfie and his girlfriend. The King and Queen.

Sandy with outstretched arm waved her Peter Pan hat for all to see.

Charlie's first thought was that she had really grown up. Brothers and dogs in tow.

Peter Pan, indeed, he thought. Peter Pan was played by a woman in the movies. And now in life. And in her life.

She started up the car and drove the car out of the parking lot. Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.

Charlie just watched and then dialed 911.

about the author

- he can't swim, has never dived, but swims well underwater

- Donnie was a real person, he did walk into a lake because he couldn't live with the plate in his head and what that entailed.

- he has lived in Sacramento CA and Long Island NY

- the two kids are he and his brother growing up, but with less name calling and more of a love for baseball.

- calls himself a Zen Catholic if he has to

- if he was alone on a desert island with the music of Pink Floyd, the Beach Boys and the East Village Opera Company that would be okay with him

- knows he is not the mosting interesting man in the world, learned that a long time ago.

- began writing at 23

- his relatives: one grandfather was a printer, the other was business manager for Washington Senators minor league team, one uncle was a batboy for the 1911 NY Giants and played minor league ball who also visited Cuba in the 20s as a player, one uncle tried out for the Chicago Cubs as a catcher, one uncle was an engineer for the Long Island Railroad and was in two derailments, one uncle was a stockbroker but also president of the Downtown Athletic Club for who he gave out the 1970 Heisman Trophy on national tv, his brother was a drummer, made an album, was a DJ on KZAP and KDVS in CA , a photographer, a book and record collector, a songwriter and a father.

- he published 3 magazines and wrote for many others.

- has written songs but not published

- was in a movie as a college student about Lord Of The Flies made on a sand bar on the American River in Sacramento under the Watt Ave overpass.

- doesn't have or want a bucket list.

Bottom Of Sachem Pond by Bill Vee

Welcome

A novel about a bank robbery, a hat, a hearth, a hand, a hole and a pig.

about the author

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